Pushing the Limits
by Hoshikage
Summary: *COMPLETE!* Rockman.EXE fic. Dr. Hikari's uncertain, Netto's worried, and Rockman is in BIG trouble...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: All copyrighted characters in Rockman.EXE and its American version, Mega Man Battle Network, are owned by Capcom, the original creators and their distributors. No infringement of any of the rights of the aforementioned creators or distributors is intended. This is a fan-created story for the enjoyment of other fans only, and it may not be distributed for profit in any way. No money is being made by me in any form from this fanfic or any others I have written.   
  
Author's Note: This might best be considered an AU, as I'm probably going to end up taking bits of manga, anime, and game continuity and squishing them together messily. Not to mention that I actually haven't _played_ the games. ^^;; So mails/reviews telling me I messed up the continuity probably won't help, as I already know. ;) Oh yes, and I use the Japanese names for everyone, and the matching honorifics.   
  
Pushing the Limits   
  
a Rockman.EXE fanfic   
  
by Hoshikage   
  
Prologue   
  
    "I just don't think it's natural! My son's obsessed with that Navi of his. He cried for a week when someone stole the toy it's kept in, until we finally got it back. I just don't think it's healthy for a child to be so focused on a computer program."     _A Navi, no matter how much it may act like a human, is only a program. It can pretend to joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, but it can only act within the limited bounds of its AI._     "Well, actually, at your son's age, it's not all that surprising. No, hear me out... A Navi, in these days, provides a special kind of companionship to a growing child. Like an imaginary friend, except better, because it can be seen and heard. It's also almost like having a pet - since these days, hardly anyone has the space and time to provide a pet with a good home. A Navi is much easier to keep."     _There is one exception to this rule... though almost no one knows about it, and even those who think they know tend not to appreciate the true complexity of the situation._     "Well, I suppose I didn't think of it that way... I'm just concerned, I don't want him growing up unable to do anything for himself, you know. I wonder if he'd remember his homework without that Navi telling him about it."     _I wonder what they'd think, if anyone found out about a Navi that really can think for itself? One that has no limits?_     "Yes, of course I understand your concern. But in my experience, children tend to become more organized, not less, with a Navi's guidance - in fact, I hear that even adults are starting to use them more and more now, to keep track of work-related documents and meetings! I think you don't need to worry about an unnatural dependence at this stage."     _Worse yet, of course, if they knew why that Navi is so special..._     "Well, I suppose I feel better now. I was just about to throw the thing away, to be honest. But I suppose it'll be all right after all."     _A program, after all, is only an object, a piece of intellectual property. It can be cherished and treasured, but never loved. It has none of the protection in the real world that a human would._     "Of course, you just want the best for your son. Do try to remember, though, that it's programmed to help your son, not harm him. And, really, it is just a program..."     _Is it an act of evil to sentence a human to carry on existence as a mere program, no matter how exceptional? A gross breach of ethics, no matter what the alternative would have been?_     "Well, thank you very much for your time."     _If they knew, would they look at this Navi and see an abomination, a creature that should never have been created?_     "Not at all. Feel free to come see me again if you have more concerns."     Hikari Yuuichirou watched as the unfamiliar woman left his office, apparently comforted by his sympathetic speech.     _No one must know. Ever._   
  
--To Be Continued-- 


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All copyrighted characters in Rockman.EXE and its American version, Mega Man Battle Network, are owned by Capcom, the original creators and their distributors. No infringement of any of the rights of the aforementioned creators or distributors is intended. This is a fan-created story for the enjoyment of other fans only, and it may not be distributed for profit in any way. No money is being made by me in any form from this fanfic or any others I have written.   
  
Author's Note: This might best be considered an AU, as I'm probably going to end up taking bits of manga, anime, and game continuity and squishing them together messily. Not to mention that I actually haven't _played_ the games. ^^;; So mails/reviews telling me I messed up the continuity probably won't help, as I already know. ;) Oh yes, and I use the Japanese names for everyone, and the matching honorifics.   
  
Pushing the Limits   
  
a Rockman.EXE fanfic   
  
by Hoshikage   
  
Chapter 1   
  
    Rockman rested, his eyes closed, listening.     He opened one eye as the PET's timer beeped. He sighed, reluctant, for once, to try and wake Netto. Netto had actually fallen asleep propped up on pillows on his bed, books in his lap - and the PET on his chest, allowing Rockman to spend the time just listening to Netto's heartbeat.     Rock couldn't explain why he found the sound so comforting. Maybe it was just that he himself didn't have a heartbeat. But he'd felt so comfortable and relaxed, it was a shame that he had to ruin the mood by going through the usual theatrics to drag Netto out of bed and get him on his way to school.     Well, if he delayed too much longer, Netto would be late for sure. "Netto-kun," he sighed softly.     Netto snored in response.     Rockman sighed. "Netto-kun," he said, louder. Times like this, he really wished he could exist outside the PET in a physical body - it would be a lot easier to wake Netto up if he could shake him, or bash him in the head with a pillow, or yank the blankets out from under him... "Netto-kun, get up, you'll be late for school again!"     Netto stirred, the PET sliding off his chest to thump onto the bed beside him. Rockman's view of the world through the screen tilted crazily as the PET shifted position, and then stabilized again, revealing part of Netto's face on the right side of the screen.     The shifting viewpoint didn't bother Rockman; he was used to watching the world fly by from Netto's belt as he rollerbladed through the streets. "Netto-kun," he said in exasperation, his voice nearly a shout. "You do this every morning! Wake up!"     And then he froze as Netto mumbled sleepily, his eyes still closed, "Saito..."     Rock hadn't yet broken his shocked silence when Netto stirred and yawned, stretching and accidentally knocking the PET onto the floor. The screen went dark as it fell against the fibers of the carpet, and Rockman closed his eyes, using the time to regain his composure.     "Oh, sorry, Rock," Netto said, picking the PET up off the floor. "I was having this crazy dream..."     Rockman tried to sound casual as he changed the subject. "Well, if you don't hurry, you'll be late for school again."     "Ack!" Netto flew around the room, trying to do ten things at once as he frantically got ready for school. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"     Rockman didn't reply with his usual retort that it was Netto's own fault. This time, after all, he really had delayed.     He just wished he hadn't, because then Netto might not have had that dream...   
  
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    "Argh! This is taking too long!" The green-haired man slammed his fists on the table in frustration. "Are you _sure_ you haven't had a good opportunity?"     The heavily-built Navi on the screen blinked its glowing green eyes. "I'm positive, Master. I apologize for disappointing you. That Navi's Operator keeps a very close eye on him. I haven't been able to get close."     The man threw himself into his chair. "Well, I knew this would be a challenge. I just didn't realize that the brat was going to be in the way so much. I suppose it's not really your fault."     He propped his feet up on the table and rested his chin on his hand, staring at the computer screen and the glowing eyes of the Navi that watched him silently. "Keep watching, though. If you see any chance, take it. I'm getting impatient."     "Yes, Master," the Navi replied with a little bow, and he dissolved into shining pixels as he transmitted himself back into the Net.     The operator's eyes glittered with the reflected light of the screen. "I want that Navi..."   
  
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    Rockman fidgeted as Netto listened to the teacher. Usually, Rockman paid attention... in fact, usually he paid more attention than Netto did. After all, it was his job to keep track of the homework assignments and keep class notes in order so Netto could study them later. Today, though, he just couldn't stay focused. Something was bothering him, and he just didn't think he could talk to Netto about it.     He felt a flash of shame at that, at not being able to confide in his Operator, but he just couldn't bring himself to talk about it to Netto. He had to do _something,_ though - Netto was already giving him weird looks. Even without the link between them, Netto probably would have been able to tell something was up, Rockman admitted to himself with a sigh. He was acting all wrong if he didn't want to raise Netto's suspicions.     He looked away from Netto's gaze, turning his attention to a directory that needed organizing, and when he turned back, a line of text shone at him.     [You're worried about something, Rock. What is it?]     Rockman looked out of the screen guiltily at Netto's face. Sighing, he responded silently in the same way, so Netto wouldn't get in trouble for talking to his Navi in class about personal matters. [It's just... something I've been thinking about,] he hedged, trying to get out of the conversation without lying. [It's nothing... I'm sorry.]     [Like heck it's nothing,] the words came back at him, hard on the heels of a wave of annoyance that had the particular "outside" feeling that meant that Netto was unintentionally broadcasting over their link again. Rockman winced. Usually Netto was better at keeping his emotions inside than that...     [Usually you're better at it too,] came a reply to his thought, and Rockman paled. He'd really thought he wasn't letting Netto "hear" what he was thinking.     [Netto-kun, I'm sorry...]     Netto sighed, propping his head on his hand as his eyes flickered back and forth between the teacher and the screen. The annoyance vanished, replaced by something more gentle, but also slightly melancholy. [It's about Saito, isn't it?]     Rockman dropped his gaze to his own blue-gloved hands. [Yes,] he admitted.     [Do you want to go talk to Papa?]     Rockman blinked, looking up again. [What? Now? But it's during school...]     Netto smiled slightly and pointed to the upper corner of the screen. Rockman blinked and looked up, and saw Roll smiling at him from an inset window.     "Roll-chan?" he asked, blinking.     Roll smiled at him. "I think it's okay if I copy Meiru's notes for Netto just this once," she said.     Rock smiled at her. "Roll-chan... Thank you."     Roll nodded and smiled sweetly at him, and then her window closed. Rockman turned his gaze back to Netto as he hesitated for another moment.     [Ah, go already!] Netto typed. [I'll be fine. Just come back before school's done so I can get Meiru-chan's notes, okay?]     Rockman smiled. [Okay. Thanks, Netto-kun.] And without any further hesitation, he logged himself out of the PET and leaped into the outside Net, flying through silver-blue clouds of data as he zigzagged quickly along the shortest path that led to the familiar system registered as Hikari Yuuichirou's.     He reached out and touched his hands to the curtain of light that represented the outermost layer of security programs, and the barrier cleaved open for him, a hole spreading open like water rippled by a disturbance. Rock started to step through, then hesitated halfway through the barrier, turning to look behind him.     He thought he saw a shadow farther back, but if there was anything there, it disappeared as a stream of glowing data obscured it from view.     Rockman frowned, but he knew he shouldn't leave the defenses open, nor should he go snooping around the Net without Netto knowing where he was. So he continued through the curtain, which swirled closed behind him, and then he downloaded himself through the other security programs into Doctor Hikari's computer.     He reformed as shimmering pixels in the computer's public zone, the security programs all having let him pass without a challenge. As his shape soldified and his vision cleared, he glanced up, relieved to see the scientist on the other side of the screen.     "Rockman?" Doctor Hikari sounded surprised. "I wasn't expecting you. Isn't Netto still in school?"     Rockman nodded sheepishly. "Meiru's letting him copy her notes... Netto-kun told me I should come talk to you."     Doctor Hikari looked at him, and then adjusted his glasses. "Well. I have a feeling I know what this is about. And I can't say I wasn't expecting it. In fact, I'm surprised neither of you said anything before now..."     Rockman looked down at his boots. "I... I didn't think it was my place to say anything," he mumbled. "If I'm just a Navi, I shouldn't..."     "And if you're not?" Doctor Hikari asked. "If you're my son? Netto pesters me constantly when I'm home, you know. I wouldn't expect Saito to be any different."     "I--" Rockman clenched his hands into fists. "I'm not Saito. I'm Rockman. At least, I thought I was--" He shook his head. "I don't know anymore! Who am I? _What_ am I?"     Doctor Hikari sighed. "Well, I should probably explain it all from the beginning. After all... if anyone has a right to know, it should be you. But this way is too awkward - while you're here, let me test out a little invention I've been working on..."     Confused, Rockman waited as Doctor Hikari's face disappeared from his view, and there were sounds of him rummaging around in his lab. Rockman waited, until he sensed a new device link being initialized by the computer. Immediately afterwards, Doctor Hikari's voice said, "Can you transfer yourself to the new hardware?"     Curious, Rockman did as he was asked. As he reformed, he found himself standing right in front of Doctor Hikari - or at least, he seemed to be. His head was not quite at the height of the doctor's shoulder, and he knew from experience that if it was Netto in front of him, they'd be the same size. He'd been in a projector like this before; it enabled others to see and hear him as if he was a human, standing in the real world like them. The only thing it didn't allow was touch.     So he was completely shocked when Doctor Hikari reached easily through the glowing white wall of the cylinder of light Rockman stood in, his hand patting Rockman's shoulder as if there was nothing whatsoever separating them.     Rockman gaped, his hand reaching up instinctively to touch the hand on his shoulder. He could feel the scientist's hand under his fingers, and he could feel its touch on his shoulder.     As far as he'd known, this was completely impossible.     Doctor Hikari was clearly delighted. "It works!" he said excitedly, poking at Rockman again. "How wonderful! I'm sure Netto will be thrilled. It has its limitations, of course - right now, you have to stay on the platform, the field generator won't extend past it." Rockman glanced down at the round, white panel on which he stood, and then looked back up as Doctor Hikari tapped on his helmet. "How fascinating. Feels just like plastic, though of course it can't be."     "Um..." Rockman started in embarassment, and Doctor Hikari pulled his hand away.     "Sorry, that was rude of me," he admitted. "It's just... well, I get carried away sometimes, you know."     "No, it's all right," Rockman protested awkwardly. Now that he thought about it, it must feel to Doctor Hikari like he could finally touch his lost son again... even if Rockman just couldn't think of himself as Saito.     Doctor Hikari went back to his chair, sitting down again and rolling it closer. "Well, I believe I promised you an explanation," he said with a slight, sad smile.     Rockman gingerly sat down as well, settling crosslegged on the round floor panel of the unusual projector. He looked up at Doctor Hikari expectantly as the scientist gathered his thoughts, waiting for the full story to be told.   
  
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    It's a long story, and the telling just brings it all back as if it were only yesterday... instead of nearly ten years' worth of frustration, heartbreak and worry. I think I'll leave most of that out.     Saito died so young that he hadn't even really developed a personality yet. And of course, though I tried to preserve his consciousness as closely as I could, some things were probably lost in the translation. I do have to wonder at how different he is from Netto; Netto would be interrupting me every other sentence, but Rockman just sits and listens.     I wondered, many times, if I was doing the right thing, in the darkest hours of the night when my conscience wouldn't let me sleep. I still wonder, even though it's now too late, and the situation has long since passed the point of no return.     Before he found out who he is, though - or rather, who he used to be - Rockman was happy. So was Netto. Does that justify what I did? Or is it merely a small consolation, a silver lining to a greater cloud?     I don't tell him about what it was like at first, when I had drives full of data I wasn't sure I could ever use, when Netto cried and would not be comforted, even though he was too young to truly understand what he had lost... when I avoided telling my wife what I was up to all hours of the day and night, and then when I first realized that I _could_ make it work. I think that moment, pierced on the two-edged blade of how wonderful and terrible science could be, was probably, more than anything else, the moment that made me the man I am.     Rockman doesn't consciously remember anything about being Saito, of course - even had he lived as an ordinary human, those times would have been lost to him. Netto lived unaware that he'd ever had a twin - thanks to me. And Haruka. I was a little surprised that she agreed to never mention her second son, as if he'd never existed.     Maybe, just like me, she never quite managed to let time dull the pain.     But it's little wonder that Rockman can't reconcile himself as a Navi - albeit a very unusual one - with the concept of being human. The whole concept is foreign to him; his world is nothing like ours, despite our attempts to make it so.     I wasn't the one who took away his chance to experience our world as we do. I just wonder if what I gave him instead was enough. Especially when I think that we almost lost him again, so soon after Netto had gotten him back...     It's a pity that Netto has the family knack for getting into things he shouldn't, and attracts trouble as well. And it's a shame too that there just isn't such a thing as a Navi that isn't combat-ready... I thought, if I had to install combat capabilities, the least I could do was make him as strong as possible, so there would be less chance of his being deleted... dying, again.     In hindsight, my reasoning seems somewhat flawed.     I still wonder if there wasn't a better way to go about saving Rockman than what I did, but at that point I just don't think there was any way to preserve the secret from Netto and Rockman anymore, and I couldn't bear the thought of losing what was left of Saito again. Of course, it worked - though with complications I hadn't expected. This unexplained link - there seems to be no other word to apply to it but "telepathic," though the whole concept seems ludicrous - well, let's just say that it wasn't part of the plan.     Then again, neither was anyone finding out about this, not even Netto, or Rockman himself...   
  
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    Rockman listened quietly. Most of the story was similar to what he'd heard before, though this time it was the full version, with details that had been left out before due to lack of time. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, still. Doctor Hikari was careful to refer to Saito as another person, but somehow that only made Rock feel guiltier. Shouldn't he be happy that Doctor Hikari had saved his life - twice now? Shouldn't he try to be a son, not just a program?     "So, any more questions?" Doctor Hikari said finally.     Rockman hesitated. Then he finally asked, "So were Netto and Sai... and _I,"_ he said, resolving to at least try. "Were we identical twins?"     Doctor Hikari raised an eyebrow at the change in pronoun, but nodded. "When it came time to design your Frame, I changed things a bit," he admitted. "I couldn't have Netto wandering around with a Navi that looked exactly like him - people would think it was strange."     Rockman nodded slowly. "You really didn't want anyone to know about me..."     Doctor Hikari sighed. "Yes. And to be honest... you were finished nearly three years before I gave you to Netto."     Rockman blinked. "I... I was?"     Doctor Hikari nodded again. "There were a lot of reasons why I waited. For one thing, Custom Navis were a lot more expensive and out of the ordinary then. You would have attracted quite a bit of attention, and word would have spread about Hikari Netto and his special Navi... Now, you're one of many. Special, but not unique. I hope you understand."     Rockman grimaced, but he couldn't really fault the logic. After all, if word got out, there would probably be an awful lot of people who would be very upset with one Hikari Yuuichirou, who'd actually done all the morally dubious work.     For some reason, though, the concept of sitting deactivated in data-storage for years on end bothered him now, in a way he didn't think it would have before...     Doctor Hikari glanced at the screen. "I hate to say it, but the field generator's running low on power - I'll have to recharge it soon. Did you get to ask everything you wanted to?"     "I... I think so," Rockman said, getting back up. "I'm sorry. I guess, I just wanted to know..."     Doctor Hikari stood up as well, and moved forward. "It's all right. As I said, you certainly deserve to know - after all, it's your life I was playing with."     "No, it's not like that," Rockman protested. "I'm grateful, really. I mean, even if I was just a regular Navi, I'd be grateful you created me, because I got to be such good friends with Netto-kun..."     Doctor Hikari smiled more broadly. "I'm glad to hear that," he said, and teased, "You know, brothers sometimes don't get along, and I'd hate for that to have happened with you!"     Rockman smiled and blurted out the name he'd been avoiding, the name Netto used, in a rush of boldness. "So, thank you... Papa..."     He regretted it the instant he said it. He winced and looked in embarassment up at Doctor Hikari. "It... doesn't feel right," he said awkwardly, wishing he could take it back.     Doctor Hikari just smiled, sadly. "Maybe it just takes some practice," he said gently. "But if you don't want to call me that, I understand." Rockman shrugged a little uncomfortably, but then smiled despite himself as the scientist added lightly, "Maybe something more polite would be better for you, Netto's really not the polite type like you are."     Rockman chuckled a little. "No, that's true. I keep telling him he shouldn't be so rude..."     Doctor Hikari smiled, and Rockman tried again. "Thank you," he said. "Really. This... this is for me too, isn't it?" He gestured to the platform underneath him, the machine that it seemed would someday let him interact with the real world as well as cyberspace.     Doctor Hikari nodded. "I hope you like it."     Rockman nodded. "I like it a lot. Thank you. I'd better go now, Netto-kun asked me to come back before school let out..."     Doctor Hikari nodded and Rockman logged out, the familiar fizzling sensation as his body dissolved taking hold. He reformed briefly in the computer, but didn't pause, logging out to the Net again immediately and passing back through the security systems the way he'd come.     Things were still kind of awkward, between him and Doctor Hikari... but he thought they would get better now. As he glided back toward the school's system and the PET that was plugged into it, Rockman barely noticed the glittering stars of data flowing by, his thoughts turned inward.     He still wasn't sure, even after all that, who he really was. He wasn't a regular Navi, that much was obvious. But he clearly wasn't human either, and he still just couldn't think of himself as Saito, or of Doctor Hikari as his father, really.     _I guess I'll just have to figure it out for myself,_ he decided. _I'll find what feels right. And I'm sure Netto-kun will tell me if I'm doing something wrong._ He grinned to himself. _Actually, he'll probably tell me so even if I don't, just to get my goat, but..._     A cloud of data shredded apart in front of him, red streaks of energy smashing through the data stream. Rockman instinctively twisted, trying to throw himself out of the way, but the bands of power warped as they touched him, snapping in on themselves to entangle him in a web of hot, stinging power.     Rockman yelped aloud and squirmed, struggling to free himself, until he suddenly found himself yanked up by the scuff of the neck, dangling in front of a huge, heavily-built Navi covered in overlapping plates of white armor, green eyes glowing from within the white helmet.     "Who are you?" Rockman gasped, struggling. "What do you want?"     "I am Boneman," the Navi replied, and then he turned and flung Rockman through the air. Rockman cried out as he flew through a dark gap in the shining blueness of the Net, and then fell in a heap on a hard surface. The energy web disappeared, allowing him to pick himself up and look around, trying to figure out what had just happened.     A maze of rock formations stretched around him, forming shelves and ledges that seemed to go on forever. Huge boulders protruded from the ground at odd angles, and the light was dim and faintly red.     A shadow appeared in front of him.     Rockman gasped, hastily backing up as Boneman materialized in front of him. "What do you want?" Rockman demanded again, forming his Rockbuster with his right hand and pointing it at the other Navi.     "Where's your Operator, little Navi?" Boneman asked, his voice deep and rasping. "Did he abandon you?"     Rockman bristled. "Of course not!" he said in Netto's defense.     "Then why don't you call him?" Boneman asked. "Perhaps because you know he can't hear you?"     Rockman backed up a step further, trying to get into jumping rage of one of the rocks. Boneman was right - Netto had no connection, he wouldn't be able to hear anything Rock said to him. Or at least, not through the PET - but maybe, the link - Boneman couldn't know about that!     _Netto-kun!_ he sent desperately, hoping the words would get through where nothing else would, but there was no response, and it felt like he was calling into a huge, empty room, the call fading into an echoing void. He tried again, worried. _Netto-kun? Can you hear me? Netto-kun!_     There was still no answer. Rockman tensed, but decided to keep Boneman talking. He just had to stall until Netto could find him. "I'm sure he's already on his way," he bluffed. "He'll be along any minute, looking for me!"     "Really?" the Navi mused. "Well... that's too bad, then."     Rockman took a step back. "What... what do you mean?" he asked, all his instincts for danger flaring up in warning at the cryptic statement.     "Because he won't find you!" Boneman shouted, and with a thunderous roar, his entire arm shot forward like a rocket, the huge fist slamming into Rockman hard enough to fling him head-over heels across the barren landscape. Rock tumbled across the stone and caught himself, whipping up his buster to fire a spray of shots in the other Navi's direction as he scrambled back to his feet. The arm whipped itself back toward Boneman, drawn back on a long, metallic cord, and most of the shots caromed uselessly off the arm as it flew back to its owner.     Rockman sprinted for the cover of a standing, jagged piece of stone as the Navi turned toward him again. He fired a few more shots to keep Boneman distracted, but a screeching whine alerted him to the danger a moment too late. Even as he flung himself to the side, Boneman's other hand roared in, catching him in a glancing blow that sent him hurtling headfirst into the unforgiving stone. Datasparks exploded off his helmet as the side caved in with a crunch that reverberated and echoed madly inside Rock's head. He slid into a limp heap at the base of the stone formation, stirring feebly as he tried and failed to pick himself back up. More than half stunned, his vision was swirling and wavering, and pixels bled and fizzled from the side of his head in flashes of white pain that stabbed through him.     Two huge fingers closed around Rock's wrist, dwarfing his much smaller hand as Boneman lifted his arm.     Rockman managed to pull up his other hand, prying instinctively at the fingers that held him trapped, but their grip was too strong for him to budge. The other hand came down with some kind of strange, thick ring and clamped it around his wrist, and the fingers released their grip. The instant they did so, before Rock could even think of pulling away, the ring had yanked his wrist down to the ground and held it there, as if the ring had an incredible weight, or was somehow magnetized to cling to the ground. No matter how Rock twisted and pulled, he couldn't budge it so much as an inch.     Rockman looked back up at the armored Navi, and as he saw another ring in his hand he raised his free arm and fired a frantic burst of shots from his cannon. "Leave me alone!"     Boneman seized his cannon and wrenched the arm behind his back, forcing Rockman to the ground as he pressed and twisted. Rock struggled and kicked, gasping in pain as his twisted arm sent threads of fire through him. "Stop it!" he cried out, desperately trying to hold onto his cannon, to keep some form of defense, however futile. "Why are you doing this?"      "It's really quite simple," said a new voice, and as Rockman looked up, he saw a window above Boneman's head, showing a human face with lank green hair and the same poisonous green eyes. The man grinned down at him from the window, the expression cruel. "You're about to get a new Operator."     "What?" Rockman gasped, freezing in horror as he realized what the man planned to do. Boneman took advantage of his surprise to twist his arm even more viciously. Rock whimpered helplessly as his cannon disappeared, shredding itself into whirling pixels before it reformed into the shape of his arm. "You can't do that!" he gasped desperately.     "Of course I can," the man replied. "I'm a programmer. And you're a program."     "No!" Rockman cried, struggling frantically. "Let me go!"     Boneman pulled on his wrist instead of answering, yanking him sideways until the first ring stopped his movement with a sharp jerk. Rockman yelped, and Boneman let go, allowing the second ring to drop to the ground just as heavily as the first. Rock struggled, but his arms were stretched out to either side taut enough that he couldn't lift his upper body off the ground at all. Even bracing his feet and pulling with all his strength had no effect.     "Why are you doing this?" Rockman gasped as Boneman pulled out another ring. "You've already got a powerful Navi! You don't need me!"     "Don't be ridiculous," the man laughed. "One can never have too many special Navis. Besides, I have a little task I want done, and it's just perfect for your talents..."     Rockman renewed his struggles desperately as Boneman reached down and grabbed one of his legs, but no matter how he pulled and twisted, nothing budged. Kicking at the fingers didn't work any better, and within mere moments Rock lay stretched out on the ground, his arms and legs held completely immobile by the thick rings locked around his wrists and ankles.     Rock gasped in terror as Boneman leaned over him, the screen above his head flickering with the image of the grinning human face. "Poor little Navi," the operator crooned. "Your former master won't be coming for you, you know. He won't even know anything's wrong until it's all over."     "No..." Rockman moaned.     Boneman knelt leaning over him, raising one enormous hand. "Now just relax, and this won't hurt... much," the operator said, eyes glowing with twisted glee.     In the moment of stillness before the Navi's hand fell, Rock screamed inside the silence of his own mind, reaching out over a link that was broken and silent, his thoughts dissipating into an endless void.     _Netto-kun! Help me!_     And then he screamed aloud as Boneman's huge hand fell like a crack of thunder, the huge fingers driving themselves into his chest.   
  
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    _Netto-kun! Help me!_     Pain.     Then, nothing.     Netto's eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed unconscious onto his desk.   
  
--To Be Continued-- 


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All copyrighted characters in Rockman.EXE and its American version, Mega Man Battle Network, are owned by Capcom, the original creators and their distributors. No infringement of any of the rights of the aforementioned creators or distributors is intended. This is a fan-created story for the enjoyment of other fans only, and it may not be distributed for profit in any way. No money is being made by me in any form from this fanfic or any others I have written.   
  
Author's Note: This might best be considered an AU, as I'm probably going to end up taking bits of manga, anime, and game continuity and squishing them together messily. Not to mention that I actually haven't _played_ the games. ^^;; So mails/reviews telling me I messed up the continuity probably won't help, as I already know. ;) Oh yes, and I use the Japanese names for everyone, and the matching honorifics.   
  
Pushing the Limits   
  
a Rockman.EXE fanfic   
  
by Hoshikage   
  
Chapter 2   
  
    Rockman's back arched, his body jerking and writhing in its bonds, his eyes wide and sightless in agony as his chest exploded in a a mass of fluttering pixels, bits of glowing blue winking out as they floated free of his body like embers dying as they drifted away from the flame that had created them.     Green light poured down Boneman's arms, catching the fluttering pixels in a web of power that prevented them from drifting away any further. "Can't have you going all to pieces now," the operator chuckled. "Not until I've rearranged your code a bit..."     Rockman thrashed as Boneman's hands dug deeper, a high, thin wail wrenching itself free of his throat. He felt the touch of the operator through his Navi's hands, somehow, a slimy slithering feeling of an outside presence tweaking at the code that made up both his body and his mind. He fought back blindly, his head shifting from side to side as he clenched his eyes shut and tried to ignore the pain and block the intruder.     The operator whistled. "You _are_ a strong one. I've never had a Navi manage to fight me before - even temporarily. But don't try my patience - you don't want me to get angry."     "S-Stop it," Rockman gasped out through the haze of pain. "Stop it..."     His words dissolved into another incoherent shriek as the other Navi pushed his hands even deeper, tearing his entire upper torso into a chaotic, bubbling mess of pixels. His body convulsed, his mind too overwhelmed by the new assault for him to think of any way to fight back. His thoughts scattered, leaving only confusion and pain, his surroundings dimming as he lost his grip on where he was, who he was....     _Net...to...ku...n..._   
  
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    "Netto-kun!"     _Rock..._     "Netto-kun!"     _Rock, where... are you..._     "Netto-kun! Are you all right?"     Netto opened his eyes and blinked dazedly up at the concerned faces of his classmates. "Meiru-chan...?" he mumbled, focusing on her face. His chest hurt, but the pain was faint and distant, nothing like the first stab of agony just before he blacked out. Confused, he pushed himself up, rubbing his head. He looked at his PET, and saw only an empty screen dotted with idling windows.     There was no sign of Rockman.     "Netto-kun, what happened? Are you all right?" Meiru-chan asked worriedly. "You just collapsed..."     Netto hardly even heard her. "Rockman..." he breathed, then he snatched up the PET from his desk. "Something's happened to Rockman!"     "What?" Meiru asked.     Netto punched buttons on the PET frantically, but all that appeared were ominous red letters that blinked, [Scanning...]     "Netto, what's going on?" Yaito asked.     Netto shook his head in frustration. "I'll explain later, okay? I've got to find Rockman, I know he's in trouble!"     [Rockman: Not Found] flashed on the PET's screen.     "He never came back from Doctor Hikari's..." Roll said worriedly from Meiru's PET.     Yaito looked down at her own PET. "Glyde, can you retrace the route and look for him?"     "I'll go too," Roll said immediately.     "I'll go with Roll-chan," Gutsman added.     Netto smiled weakly. "Thanks everyone..." he said as he pulled the PET's plug from the desk port. Keeping it plugged in wouldn't do any good now.     _Rock... where are you?_     It bothered him that he couldn't feel anything but the faint hint of pain. It should have been stronger - not that he wanted it to hurt, but at least that would have given him a direction to go in, some sense of _where_ it was coming from. Like this, he had no way to tell...     "Are you sure you're okay, Netto-kun?" Meiru asked him worriedly. "Mariko-sensei went to get the school nurse, we could wait until she gets back... I'm sure it won't be long now, even though school's out for the day..."     Netto shook his head. "I'm fine! Come on, let's hurry!" He ran for the door.     "Ah! Netto, where are you going?" Meiru cried, hurrying after him.     Even the slight pain was fading now, leaving nothing, nothing at all...     _Hold on, Rockman! I'm coming to help!_   
  
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    Glyde, Roll, and Gutsman soared through the Net.     "I don't see any sign of Rockman, Yaito-sama..." Glyde said, his eyes glancing in all directions through the streaming data.     "Maybe we should ask Doctor Hikari if he even arrived," Roll said worriedly.     "That's a good idea, Roll. Can you go ahead? I'll keep searching along the path," Glyde said, and Roll nodded and streaked ahead.     Gutsman looked around. "Don't get it," he said slowly. "Where'd he go?"     Glyde shook his head. "I don't know. He can't have just disappeared..."     Gutsman pointed up. "Hey, look."     Glyde turned and saw blackened bits of partially-corrupted data floating in the air around a data stream that had stopped in mid-transmission, floating still and lifeless. "Now that's strange," he said, observing the frozen data stream. "It looks like this download got disrupted by something..."     Roll reappeared as he studied the data stream, looking for clues. "Doctor Hikari said he left a while ago," she said, clutching her hands together. "Where could he be?"     "I think this might be a clue," Glyde said, pointing to the data stream. "If Navis were fighting here, that would explain this kind of data damage. Let's look around and see if we can find any more clues."     "Okay," Roll said, starting in one direction.     "Guts," Gutsman agreed, and followed her.     Glyde started in the other direction, carefully looking around for more damaged data or other such clues.     Behind him, a tiny hole in the wall of the Net shrank to the size of a speck of dust, and then disappeared completely.   
  
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    "Netto, slow down!" Dekao complained, huffing as he tried to keep up.     "Netto-kun... Dekao-kun's right," Meiru said. "You don't even know where you're going!"     Netto stopped, slamming his fist against the wall of the store they were passing as he swore in frustration. "Damn it! I've got to find him! I just know he's in trouble!"     "Glyde will find him," Yaito said confidently. "He's got all kinds of search functions."     Netto sat down against the wall, burying his face in his arms as he saw once again the empty screen of his PET. _Rockman, don't go... we promised, we'd always be together..._     "Netto-kun... I'm sure he's okay," Meiru said, trying to cheer him up. "We'll find him, and then we'll all help him together!"     Netto lifted his head. "Thanks, Meiru-chan," he said, and stood up again. "You're right. Let's plug in at the next terminal and ask Glyde how it's going."     The small band of children hurried down the street.   
  
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    Rockman slowly came back to himself, blinking up at the dark blue clouds overhead that served as an imitation of the real world's sky. He felt disoriented and confused, and for a moment he could only lie still, trying to remember what had happened.     Boneman... and his Operator... They were going to take him away from--     "Netto-kun!" he gasped aloud, instinctively bolting into an upright sitting position. A spasm of pain went through his chest at the movement and he gasped, pressing a hand against his chest as he looked down, half expecting to see a fizzling mess of pixels.     But his chest seemed intact, though sore. He looked around, realizing that the rocks were gone, the desert landscape having been replaced by dim blue pieces of chromed metal that stood in geometric formations, dotted around the steely blue floor. _I'm in a different system..._     He tried to stand up, but he felt so weak and unbalanced that he toppled right back down. Gritting his teeth, he tried again, and this time he managed to get to his feet, though he wavered uncertainly before regaining his balance. His body ached, and there was a subtle feeling of wrongness underneath it all, something he couldn't quite identify.     He looked down at himself, but he looked just the same.     "Netto-kun?" he asked, but without much hope. _Netto-kun, are you there?_ he added silently, but as before, his thoughts didn't seem to be getting anywhere, just fading into emptiness.     "It's my name you should be calling from now on, you know," a voice said, and Rockman whirled, looking up at the face of Boneman's Operator on the other side of the screen. "Oh, but I suppose I haven't introduced myself yet... how forgetful of me. You can call me Honemura-sama."     Rockman glared at him. "What did you do to me?"     Honemura grinned. "Not too much. Actually, your code is surprisingly unusual for a Navi... a true custom job, huh?"     Rockman just glared and didn't answer. Honemura shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter. Of course I changed your Operator setting, and a few other things. But as long as you do what I say, I'll leave it at that."     "Forget it!" Rockman snapped. "I won't do anything for you!"     "Are you forgetting? You're my Navi now. You have to do what I say."     "I'm not yours!" Rockman shouted in fury.     Honemura shook his head. "Stubborn little thing, aren't you? Not one of the qualities I appreciate." His expression darkened and he made a movement with his hand, outside the limits of the screen. Rock couldn't see what he did, but instantly following the movement pain exploded in his chest, wrenching a startled cry from him before he doubled over, crumpling to the floor.     "Well? Ready to cooperate now?" Honemura's voice chortled.     Rockman choked back a cry of agony as the pain increased. It felt like he was being shredded apart, one pixel at a time, but he wasn't about to give Honemura any satisfaction. "For...get it..." he gasped instead. "You... might... as well... delete me!"     "And waste all that work?" Honemura asked, but the pain stopped as abruptly as it had begun. Rockman went limp, gasping in relief. "No, I've got a better idea..."     Rockman looked up at Honemura's image warily, and found himself frozen before he'd even managed to lift his head completely. Stunned, Rock tried to gasp as he realized that his body wouldn't move, but even that involuntary reaction was prevented. His body was completely rigid and wouldn't move at all.     Honemura grinned at him, and held up something that looked vaguely like a PET, but without the screen and with more buttons. He looked right into Rockman's eyes as he pushed one of the buttons, and to his shock, Rock found himself getting up, his body moving without his conscious direction. Honemura pushed more buttons, and Rockman's body turned, walking smoothly despite the fact that Rock wasn't in control at all.     _No... this can't be happening..._   
  
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    Honemura watched a little inset window on his screen as he idly manipulated the controller in his hand. The smooth waves of the graph in the window turned into sharp spikes, fluctuating wildly as the Navi started to realize just what his situation was. Honemura grinned and let the little Navi fight for a few moments, watching the frantic spikes on the screen. It was the only way Rockman could communicate now, though he was unaware that Honemura could see it.     Then he decided he'd proved his point, and hit the "cancel" button.   
  
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    Rockman crumpled again as he was suddenly released. Trembling uncontrollably, he curled into a ball, gasping in quick, sobbing breaths as he tried to recover from his desperate and futile fighting to regain control of his body.     _Netto-kun..._     "Well, do you understand now?" Honemura gloated. "You can either do what I ask, or I'll just make you. Either way, you have no choice."     Rockman clenched his eyes shut, a stifled whimper escaping him as the hopelessness of the situation crashed down on him like an inescapable weight.     _Netto-kun... I'm sorry... I can't fight him..._     Honemura just laughed. "I see I've made my point."   
  
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    Netto stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, his eyes vacant. Everyone else looked at him worriedly, but he hardly noticed.     His chest tightened and tears welled up in his eyes. He closed them quickly, trying to trace the ghostly feeling of fear and despair that he knew didn't belong to him. Underneath the urge to cry, there was his own feeling, his determination, almost burning through the reflected emotion.     _Where are you, Rock? Tell me so I can help you!_     But there was no answer, except for the silent cloud of misery that was already fading like mist.     Netto scrubbed the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand and started running again, ignoring the voices of his friends asking him what had happened.   
  
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    Roll perched unhappily on a block of data, looking down at her hands where they were folded in her lap. Gutsman stood close by her, looking forlorn, as though he wanted to comfort her but didn't know how. Glyde sighed, and then looked up at the sound of his Operator's voice. "Glyde, have you had any luck?"     He looked up at the window showing her face. "I'm sorry, Yaito-sama. I suspect that Rockman was taken into a private system - but there's no way of telling what system, or where. We've just been waiting for you to plug-in so we could report."     "We could have plugged in sooner," Dekao muttered, "But Netto's been running halfway around the city on some wild goose chase."     "Dekao-kun!" Meiru scolded him. "Wouldn't you be worried if Gutsman disappeared? Apologize!"     "Sorry," Dekao mumbled, dropping his gaze.     "It's okay," Netto's voice said tiredly, though the Navis couldn't see him without his PET connected. "He's right - I shouldn't be running around aimlessly. I just thought, if I got close enough..." His voice trailed off.     "You thought?" Meiru prompted.     "Never mind," Netto started, when suddenly Glyde gasped aloud as his internal senses twanged in warning like a plucked harpstring.     "Glyde?" Roll asked. "What's wrong?"     "Yaito-sama," Glyde said quickly, analyzing the feeling without even having to think about it. "The security system at home just alerted me to an intruder! Someone's trying to break into the Ayano-Kouji computer network!"     "What? How dare they!" Yaito screeched. "How far in are they?"     Glyde reached out to the computer system, and the answer he got shocked him. "Yaito-sama - the intruder has already reached the 5th level! The security system didn't even notice him until just now!"     "That's impossible!" Yaito scoffed. "Nobody's got that kind of clearance but us! It must be a hacker!"     "What do you suppose he wants?" Netto asked, puzzled.     "Who cares!" Yaito fumed. "I'm not going to let him steal any of my Daddy's work! Glyde, come back to the PET. We'll go home and I'll plug you in there!"     "Shouldn't I go ahead and try and stop the intruder, Yaito-sama?" Glyde inquired tentatively.     "We could go too," Roll offered.     "I don't want you going off alone anymore right now," Yaito said, her voice a little softer. "If you ran into him alone, I couldn't send you battle chips or anything to help. And I... I don't want you to disappear too..."     Netto, invisible to the Navis, made a little strangled sound. Roll winced.     Glyde hesitated, but then he nodded. "As you wish, Yaito-sama." He logged himself back into the PET, and as his body dissolved, he just caught sight of Roll and Gutsman doing the same before he reappeared inside the PET.     "Yaito-chan, how are we going to get to your house?" Meiru asked.     In answer, Yaito yanked out a glittering plastic card from her purse and marched up to the curb where a taxi waited at a red light.     "Um, Yaito-chan, he's already got a customer..." Meiru said, pointing at the man in the back seat.     Yaito yanked the door open. Meiru buried her face in her hands. Glyde stayed very quiet.     "Hey you!" Yaito said, flashing her card. "I'll give you 100,000 Zenny if you let us have this taxi and wait for another one!"     The man in the taxi gaped. "It's yours!" he said, grabbed the card, and slid out of the taxi. Yaito immediately climbed in.     "Well? What are you waiting for?" she asked the others archly, and they hurried to follow.     "Man, I guess the daughter of Gabcom's owner really can get whatever she wants..." Dekao muttered.     The taxi driver regarded them all a little dubiously. "Um, my fare..." he started.     "Get us to the Ayano-Kouji mansion in ten minutes, and I'll not only pay his fare and ours, but I'll add a triple bonus," Yaito returned coolly.     The taxi driver pushed hard on the gas as the light turned green, and the taxi leaped ahead. "Yes, Ma'am!"     "You'd better fasten your seatbelts," Yaito said as Netto was practically flung out the window as the taxi swerved around a truck.   
  
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    Rockman trudged dispiritedly past the security programs. They hadn't made any attempt to stop him thus far; he was pretty sure that his clearance was one of the reasons why Honemura had decided to use him for this little "job."     He didn't know yet what Honemura wanted him to _do_ inside the Ayano-Kouji computer system, but he wasn't really too eager to find out, either. He had half been hoping that the security system would have decided to do something about him before now, since he was fairly certain he was getting close to the limits of where Navis were allowed to go, even Navis who belonged to Yaito's friends.     Except, of course, that he didn't anymore.     He heard the security programs whispering to each other as he passed, but they still made no attempt to stop him. Apparently his unusual behavior was confusing them. But he couldn't delay any longer; a few more steps, and he was faced with the closed gate to the next level.     "Blow it open," Honemura's voice said.     "Wha--?" All the security programs were briefly startled by the sound of the unfamiliar voice. A couple of them were quick enough to raise their weapons.     Rockman didn't move. _Shoot me!_ he thought desperately, closing his eyes.     "Little brat, I see you still haven't learned your lesson!" Honemura said, and Rockman's body whirled around, buster already forming. Rock struggled to regain control, even for an instant, but his body smoothly fired, blasting every one of the hovering security programs into glittering pixels before they could counterattack.     "Now don't waste any more time!" Honemura ordered, and he released Rockman's body with a sharp jolt that made Rock stagger unsteadily against the gate. Rockman looked back at the empty area and sighed.     "Sorry, Yaito-chan," he mumbled, and then blew the gate open, slipping through the gap into the next security level. _If I'm lucky, maybe I won't make it out of here..._   
  
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    Netto hurried to follow Yaito as she ran for the nearest terminal in the huge mansion. The servants looked at the band of running children in surprise, but apparently they were too used to their mistress' habits to say anything. Yaito flung open the door into what looked like a sitting room and hastily plugged her PET into a terminal on the table. "Glyde, plug-in, transmission!"     Glyde's image fizzled into pixels and disappeared from the screen of her PET. Yaito demanded immediately, "Where's the intruder now?"     "Level 6, Yaito-sama." Glyde sounded a bit puzzled. "I expected him to be deeper by now..."     "Hah! Daddy's security system must be harder to get through than he thought!" Yaito said proudly. "Go get him, Glyde!"     "Right away, Yaito-sama," Glyde said.     "Yaito-chan, we can help too," Meiru said, pulling out the cord from her PET. "Roll, plug-in, transmission!"     Netto sat down on the nearest couch with a sigh, looking at the empty screen of his own PET. _Rock... I wish you were here with me..._     Curiosity got the better of him, though, and he stood up again after only a moment, moving so he could watch Meiru's screen over her shoulder. Glyde and the others seemed to have gotten to the end of the 5th level, thanks to Glyde's identification. The last room was empty, patches on the wall still smoldering from energy shots.     "How awful," Roll gasped. "They've all been deleted."     "He went that way!" Glyde said, pointing to a blasted hole through the gate into the next level. Then he gasped. "I just felt the alarm in Level 7! He's got access to the data storage area!"     "Let's hurry!" Roll urged, and the Navis increased their pace.   
  
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    Rockman sighed. "What exactly am I looking for, here?"     "I'll tell you when you find it. Just keep looking," Honemura replied, and Rockman rolled his eyes but kept going, walking slowly along the shelves of data. At least he had an excuse to move slowly, since Honemura needed to read all the shelves' contents to find what he wanted, and apparently like any other Operator he needed a Navi present to actually see what was going on inside the cyber world. And even if Rockman did have to follow his orders, he wasn't about to be good about it.     "That's it," Honemura said suddenly, and Rockman stopped in his tracks.     "What?" he asked, deliberately playing dumb. After all, there was a lot of data on those shelves...     "That one. Right in front of you." Rockman reached up. "No, not that one, you idiot! Don't try my patience!"     "Well, be more specific," Rockman replied innocently.     "The one labeled C-44A," Honemura growled.     Rockman sighed to himself and reached out, pulling the block of data off the shelf. "What is it, anyway?"     "Just something to make my life a little easier," Honemura replied smugly. Rockman got a sinking feeling that he was going to find out what the data was supposed to do firsthand, by having it used on him. He closed his eyes, for one wretched moment wishing he could somehow delete himself on the spot, before he was forced to steal from one of his friends, before Honemura had the chance to do anything else to him...     "He's in here!" a familiar voice shouted, and Rockman's eyes snapped open. Frozen in shock, he just stood and stared helplessly as Glyde, Roll, and Gutsman charged into the data storage area and then stopped dead as they saw him standing there, data cube in hand.     Rock had thought he couldn't possibly feel any worse than he already did, but as he saw Roll's expression of horrified disbelief, he discovered he was wrong.     And then the voice he'd been longing to hear spoke, and Rockman's heart fell into his boots.     "Rockman?" Netto's voice asked numbly, transmitted over Meiru's PET. "What... what are you _doing?"_   
  
--To Be Continued-- 


	4. Chapter 3

  
  
Reviews! YAY! Thanks everybody! Hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of the story too... ;)   
  
Disclaimer: All copyrighted characters in Rockman.EXE and its American version, Mega Man Battle Network, are owned by Capcom, the original creators and their distributors. No infringement of any of the rights of the aforementioned creators or distributors is intended. This is a fan-created story for the enjoyment of other fans only, and it may not be distributed for profit in any way. No money is being made by me in any form from this fanfic or any others I have written.   
  
Author's Note: This might best be considered an AU, as I'm probably going to end up taking bits of manga, anime, and game continuity and squishing them together messily. Not to mention that I actually haven't _played_ the games. ^^;; So mails/reviews telling me I messed up the continuity probably won't help, as I already know. ;) Oh yes, and I use the Japanese names for everyone, and the matching honorifics.   
  
Pushing the Limits   
  
a Rockman.EXE fanfic   
  
by Hoshikage   
  
Chapter 3   
  
    Rockman was frozen with shock an instant too long. Even as he opened his mouth to speak, he felt his body shifting into a more defensive stance against his will, the hand that wasn't holding the data cube forming into a buster. And the words that came out of his mouth weren't at all what he wanted to say.     "Well, looks like you found me. What a pain," he heard his own voice say casually, as he himself could only listen in horrified dismay.     _No! Not this! Let me go!_     "Rock! How could you!" Roll cried.     "Put that back at once," Glyde demanded, more directly.     "Nope, don't think so," Rock heard his own voice answer, and he struggled frantically to regain control.     _Let me go! Don't make me do this!_     "Rock..." Netto said faintly. Rockman expected him to get angry, shout, call him names... anything but sound so confused, so shattered...     "Sorry, Netto-kun, but I'm not following you anymore." Rockman hardly recognized his own voice this time, as the words that came out were said in such a cruel, sneering tone.     _Netto-kun, that's not me, don't listen!_ Rock cried helplessly.     "Rock..." Netto gasped, his voice hardly more than a whisper. "It can't be..."     "Well, this has been fun, but I've got to be going - bye, all," Rockman heard his own voice say, and then the room swirled away as he felt himself logging out.     _Netto-kun! I'm sorry - I'm sorry...!_ he sobbed silently as he dropped back into the Net, pulled unwillingly back toward the system of his new master.   
  
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    Meiru looked at Netto in worry. He was still staring at the screen of the PET, even though Rockman had disappeared. His expression was blank, his eyes glassy with shock. "Netto-kun..." she said softly, realizing how awful he had to feel.     "I heard him," Netto muttered. "I heard him, but he didn't hear me..."     "What?" Meiru asked.     Netto shook his head. "I heard Rock! That wasn't him!" Before she could ask him what he meant, he demanded, "Glyde, can you follow him?"     "I think so," Glyde said. "But we have to hurry or I'll lose track of him."     Netto turned to Yaito appealingly. "Yaito-chan, please?"     Yaito blinked, then nodded, stammering, "Of - of course! I can't let him get away with stealing data from Daddy! Glyde, go after him and tell us where he goes!"     "I understand!" Roll said abruptly, and disappeared into the Net, Glyde and Gutsman following in the next moment.     Netto sat down heavily on the couch again, burying his face in his hands.     "Netto-kun..." Meiru said worriedly, leaning close.     He didn't even seem to realize she was there. "What happened to you, Rock... why can't you hear me?" he whispered.   
  
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    Blues watched from his high perch as a blue Navi flew toward the system he was watching.     "Enzan-sama," he said softly, notifying his Operator of the activity.     There was silence for a moment, and then he heard Enzan mutter, "What on earth is Rockman doing there?"     "Should I ask him?" Blues inquired dryly.     "No, stay there, let's just watch for now," Enzan replied, which was the order Blues had anticipated. He remained still and hidden on his chosen ledge, watching as Rockman stopped not far from the barrier into the system.     He raised an eyebrow as Rockman abruptly dropped the data cube he was holding, crumpling to his hands and knees without warning. He shuddered violently, breathing in quick, ragged gasps, and then he gave a sobbing whimper, a sound of such pure anguish that Blues found himself involuntarily shuddering in response.     Even Enzan was silent for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was flat and taut. "Well. It seems that _something_ unusual is definitely going on here."     He still seemed undecided on what to have Blues do, so Blues waited, watching silently. Rockman didn't stay down for long; he fumblingly picked up the data cube again, walking unevenly toward the barrier into the system as if he was ready to collapse again at any moment.     The barrier opened a portal for him.     "Blues," Enzan said, and Blues had anticipated the command, as usual. He was moving before Enzan had finished saying his name, leaping down to land between Rockman and the portal into the system.     Rockman drew back with a gasp of shock. His face lit up with what looked like intense relief as he recognized Blues, and he opened his mouth. "Blues!" he cried, and that was all he got out before he underwent a transformation so swift and so complete that Blues wasn't entirely sure what it was he was seeing.     Rockman's expression closed into a glaring mask, the green eyes hardening into chips of glass. They seemed to glow faintly with anger. His body tensed, straightened, the defeated slump vanishing completely, his hand clenching on the data cube he held. "You're in my way," he said flatly, his voice carrying a dangerous edge that Blues had never heard from him before. "Move."     "Not likely," Blues replied. "Care to tell me what that is?" He pointed at the data cube.     "None of your business!" Rockman hissed, and fired at him.     Blues had been somewhat prepared for that, so he quickly dodged the shot and darted to the side to avoid the ones that followed. He lunged in with his sword outstretched, instinctively aiming for the hand that held the cube, since it was obviously important.     Rockman dodged the slash, twisting around and firing more shots. Blues ducked to the side, and Rockman turned the other way, circling around to come at Blues from the other side.     Blues realized that Rockman was trying to get around him to the portal, and he quickly moved to block the attempt, slashing his sword across Rockman's arm, tearing a gash that sparked and fizzled, pixels bleeding from the edges of the wound.     Rockman didn't drop the cube. More than that, he didn't even flinch. He just fired again.     Blues dodged those shots too, though with less room to spare. This was getting stranger and stranger. He kept himself between Rockman and the portal, dodging or deflecting Rockman's shots and occasionally getting in grazing blows with his own sword. "Give up yet? This is getting you nowhere."     "Blues, behind you!" Enzan suddenly shouted.     _"Bone Fist!"_     Blues flung himself to the side just as an enormous fist rocketed past him closely enough to sear his side with the heat from its jets. He twisted like a cat and landed on his feet, looking at the new Navi that had emerged from the portal behind him while he was occupied with Rockman.     The large, white-armored Navi pulled its arm back on a cord, whipping it around on the way so that Blues had to jump to avoid it. As the other Navi covered for him, Rockman darted through the portal, and Blues growled to himself and lunged forward, sword outstretched to slice into the Navi's white armor.     The glowing green eyes watched him impassively as he swung, and the sword shattered on a heavy white shoulderplate.     Blues gasped. "What?!"     The Navi swung at him in the instant while he was distracted, hurling him backwards. Blues tumbled to a halt and picked himself up, turning back to the barrier just in time to see the white-armored Navi pass back through it, the barrier's portal swirling shut again behind him.     "Damn it," Enzan muttered. "Now we're back at square one."     "I'm sorry, Enzan-sama," Blues replied.     "Never mind, just come back," Enzan said. Blues was about to obey when he heard a voice he didn't expect.     "Blues!" Hikari Netto was yelling. "Wait!"     Blues turned around, and saw Rockman's friends approaching. "Enzan-sama?" he asked his Operator for orders.     "Where is he, Blues?" Netto's voice demanded before Enzan could respond, transmitted through the PETs of his friends. "Where's Rockman? I know you saw him!"     Blues wondered for a moment how exactly he knew that, but there didn't seem to be any point in trying to deny it. "He's in there," Enzan replied for him, and Blues pointed at the glowing barrier.     "What're you doing here anyway, Enzan?" Yaito demanded.     Enzan sniffed slightly. "Not that it's any of your business, but we're on an investigation of a suspected data thief."     "Suspected?" Yaito cried. "What do you mean suspected! We saw him steal data from my Daddy's computer!"     "Oh," Enzan replied, "I suppose you mean the data that Rockman was carrying."     Everyone fell silent.     "And I suppose, since Rockman is _Hikari's_ Navi, that constitutes proof enough?"     "All right, all right," Netto said wearily. "I get the point."     Blues raised an eyebrow when Netto didn't erupt into insults. Apparently Rockman wasn't the only one acting strange today.     "But what do we do now?" Roll asked. "We can't get in there..."     "Glyde," Netto said slowly, "Could you find this system again?"     "Certainly," Glyde responded.     "Just what are you planning, Hikari?" Enzan asked.     Netto said flatly, "I'm going to go talk to Papa. He'll think of something. I've got to get Rockman back."     "Well, whatever. Just don't get in our way," Enzan replied.     "No," Netto's voice muttered lowly. "You'd better not get in _my_ way."     Blues prudently disappeared before that could turn into an escalating argument, although he didn't quite leave; instead he dissolved into pixels but reformed close by, finding himself another ledge from which he could watch the proceedings without being seen.     "So, somebody managed to steal Rockman out from under Hikari's nose? That explains a few things," Enzan observed quietly.     Blues nodded. It did explain why the system had recognized him. And the stealing of the data cube. The only thing Blues was still puzzled about was that sudden, complete personality shift. For a moment, Blues would have been willing to swear that he was dealing with two totally different people. That was something that just couldn't happen with Navis, as far as he knew.     "Do you want me to try and do something about him if he comes out?" Blues asked finally.     Enzan was silent for a few moments more, watching as the other Navis disappeared, returning to their PETs. "I'll think about it while you watch," he said finally. "At the moment... I don't know."   
  
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    Netto sat in the back of the car Yaito had generously provided to give him a ride home, his chin propped on his hand as he stared unseeingly out the window. His PET lay in his lap, its empty screen a match for the silence inside his head.     The link he'd only just gotten used to had become an unstable, flickering thing, bursts of emotion or snatches of thought unexpectedly fading into emptiness. He missed the tingling feeling of Rock's laughter inside his head. He wondered now if he'd ever feel that again, even if he got Rockman back.     He tried not to remember the last thing he'd heard from Rock, before he faded into silence again. He'd tried desperately to respond when he'd heard Rock calling to him inside the Ayano-Kouji system, when he'd first realized that Rock was somehow trapped, able to see and hear but not respond. He'd tried to reassure him over the link, to let him know he was being heard, that _someone_ knew it wasn't him doing these awful things... but Rock couldn't feel him.     It was a horrible, helpless feeling, that he couldn't do a thing to help his best friend... no, worse, his _brother_....     No matter how he tried to push them out, the terrible thoughts kept replaying in the back of his mind, echoing cries of anguish and despair.     _Blues! Delete me! Please! I can't bear it--_     Netto closed his eyes, resting his forehead against the glass.     _Blues, stop me, kill me, _please_--_     Tears welled up in his eyes again, and Netto let them fall, let himself cry for his brother who wasn't capable of it.   
  
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    When Netto appeared in the lab, Doctor Hikari Yuuichirou immediately thought the worst.     Netto's eyes were red, his face still streaked with drying tears. He clutched an empty PET in his hand as though it was the only thing keeping him sane. "Papa," he croaked. "Rockman's..."     He paused, as though unable to continue. Yuuichirou tentatively asked. "Was he... deleted?"     Netto shook his head. "No - no, not yet anyway--" He looked up, for a moment anger burning through the misery in his eyes. "He got _stolen,_ Papa. Somebody took him when he tried to come back to school. I think... I think they reprogrammed him." His face was twisted, as though the word wasn't quite awful enough for what he wanted to say.     Considering that Rockman was not exactly a normal Navi, there probably was no word that was awful enough.     Yuuichirou grimaced. "I see..."     Netto shook his head wildly. "No you don't! He's still _in_ there, Papa, he knows everything he's doing, he just can't stop it! He can't hear me, but I could hear _him,_ he's--"     Netto broke off, scrubbing at fresh tears with the back of his hand. Yuuichirou reached down and pulled Netto onto his lap, and Netto didn't resist. In fact he even let go of the PET and flung his arms around his father's neck.     "He's scared, Papa," he whispered. "I could feel it, all of it. We've got to get him back. We've got to help him..."     Netto sniffled, but then slowly started to pull away, and Yuuichirou knew that his son was ready to get to the actual business of making a plan work. Yuuichirou let him go and sighed as Netto rubbed his nose on his sleeve.     "Netto, must you? Your mother would never forgive me," he said, and handed over a packet of tissues.     Netto smiled, a little more like his old self, and settled for blowing his nose exceptionally noisily.     Yuuichirou used the few seconds' respite to think. When Netto asked the inevitable, "What are we going to do, Papa?" he had at least a start of an answer ready.     "If we can get Rockman's data here, I can undo whatever was done," he said, certain that he wasn't making an idle boast. "The trouble is getting him here in the first place. I assume he's in a defended system."     Netto nodded. "We know which one," he said.     Yuuichirou nodded. "Well, that's definitely a step in the right direction. The problem is that I don't feel right about sending more Navis in... because there's the risk of the same thing happening to them."     Netto grimaced. "Then what do we do?"     Yuuichirou looked at his son soberly. "I have an idea," he said. "But it might be dangerous for you."     Netto shook his head. "I don't care. I'll try anything to get Rockman back!"     Yuuichirou nodded. "I thought you might say that." He turned to the computer. "Then, as soon as I've made a transfer device to carry his data back here, what we're going to do is put you into the Net."     Netto stared. "You can do that?" he asked. "You can put a person into the Net?"     Yuuichirou nodded. "Essentially, you'll temporarily exist as a Navi." He raised an eyebrow at Netto, who was still looking stunned. "You forget," he said dryly, "I have done this before. It's much more difficult to make a cyber version of a human consciousness that's permanent than one that's temporary."     Slowly, Netto started to smile, hope returning to his eyes.   
  
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    Rockman curled into a ball, clutching at his injured arm. The wound burned fiercely, but that pain was nothing compared to the pain of his broken heart.     He'd never see Netto smile at him again; he was certain of that, now.     Honemura was talking, but Rockman barely listened. He'd heard enough to know that Honemura wasn't exactly pleased with his performance, but thought he might still be useful. He knew Honemura was planning to try wiping out whatever was left of his mind, so he'd end up with another willing slave like Boneman. Boneman himself just stood there, watching Rockman as he tried to block out the sound of the gloating operator's voice.     "Well, I suppose I'll give you a little time off," Honemura chuckled. "I need to work on this anyway. But don't try running away - you won't get far."     "I know," Rockman mumbled dully.     Honemura laughed. "Good! Finally starting to learn your place. Boneman, make sure he doesn't try to get through the barrier."     "Yes, Master," Boneman said, and the screen showing Honemura's face went dark.     Rockman remained curled up where he was for a moment longer, trying to muster up the energy to move. Finally he sat up, still holding his arm where Blues had slashed him. He looked up at Boneman's expressionless face tiredly. "So, did he steal you too?" he asked suddenly.     Boneman was silent for a moment. "No," he said finally. "I am my Master's first Navi. He customized me himself."     "Figures," Rockman muttered sourly, rubbing at the burning wound and watching pixels sloughing away at the edges.     Boneman paused. "You could recharge yourself there," he said finally, pointing to a boxy metal formation with circular plates protruding from its surface.     Rockman looked at him for a moment. "Thanks," he said finally, awkwardly. He sighed, looking down again. "But I don't need it. I just want to go home."     "I cannot allow you to," Boneman replied.     Rockman glared at him. "I know that. I suppose you couldn't help me even if you wanted to, which I assume you don't."     Boneman's glowing green eyes blinked, but he didn't answer, which really was answer enough.     Rockman dropped his head into his hands. "Just leave me alone," he mumbled. "You can do _that,_ can't you?"     Boneman seemed to be considering that for a long time. Finally he said, "Don't try to get through the barrier. I will stop you." And then he turned and he walked away.     Rockman watched him go. "I won't," he said, and meant it.   
  
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    "Is it ready yet?" Netto asked, fidgeting in impatience.     "Almost," his father replied. "I've got to make it something you can carry easily, but can hold all of Rockman's data without damaging it. As it is, it'll have to be compressed..."     "Is that okay?" Netto asked, stopping his pacing of the lab to look at his father in surprise. He really hadn't thought that it might be difficult to get Rockman back home once he'd gotten through the barrier, and they'd already taken care of that problem...     Yuuichirou nodded. "He'll be all right, though we shouldn't leave it too long." He left the computer running something and got up, moving toward another piece of equipment. "Well, time to get you ready..."     Netto almost leaped forward. Finally, something he could do! He was almost going crazy with impatience to get this over with and bring Rockman home.     But his father turned to look at him seriously, and Netto gulped at the expression on his face, afraid he was going to say that he'd changed his mind, it was too dangerous...     "Netto, I won't ask you not to do this," his father said, surprising him. "But it's true that it might be dangerous. So I want you to be careful - _very_ careful. Don't stay any longer than you have to, and don't get hurt. Run away if it looks like you might be in danger. I can repair data, to a certain extent... I _can't_ fix brain damage. Do you understand?"     Netto gulped again, but nodded. "Nothing's gonna happen to me," he said firmly, and seeing that his father didn't look satisfied by that, he added, "I'll be careful, I promise."     "All right then." His father patted the strange-looking chair he'd uncovered. "Sit down, and we'll get started."   
  
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    Rockman sat alone for what seemed like a very long time. His thoughts chased themselves around in circles, never coming closer to finding a way out of this horrible mess.     Honemura would be back, there was no doubt of that; he'd already said he wasn't going to let his new Navi go, ever. Rockman couldn't stand the thought of just sitting and waiting until Honemura wiped out whatever was left of him that could resist. Just waiting to be utterly destroyed like that, and then worse yet, used against his friends...     He slowly got up, moving toward the recharging station Boneman had pointed out.     He wished he could share his feelings with Netto just once more. He hadn't realized how much he'd miss the link until it was gone - the current of emotion that flowed between them like electricity, power they both drew strength from, without words or images, but full of understanding, trust and friendship. But whatever Honemura had done had taken that from him, too, and he felt no hint of the reassuring presence of Netto's thoughts outside his own.     He stared at the recharging station for a moment, and then he set to work prying its outer shell off.     He hoped everyone would forgive him... that they wouldn't think too badly of him for what he'd done, and what he was about to do.     Underneath the gray metal, energy crackled wild and uncontrollable as it flowed from the power stream and to the safe access ports that he'd ignored.     He stood there a moment longer, glancing around to make sure Boneman was nowhere in sight. But the other Navi had apparently respected his wish to be left alone, for a wonder.     He turned back to the crackling power lines resolutely. _I'm sorry, everyone... Netto-kun..._ He closed his eyes for a moment, choking down a sob.     Then he opened his eyes again and determinedly plunged his hands into the crackling power.     It raced up his arms and over his body in bolts of twisting current, crawling over his skin and making pixels explode off his body with every glancing touch. He fell to his knees, biting back a cry of pain as he struggled against the instinctive urge to pull away and forced himself to keep his hands buried in the current. Only a little more - and it would all be over--     "Rock, _stop it!"_ Netto's voice screamed.     Rockman yanked his hands back instantly, without thought. As the lightning subsided, he knelt on the ground and stared into the darkness at the edge of the system, in so much shock that he hardly felt the pain of his burns where they bled pixels sluggishly into the air.     Netto was running toward him.     "Netto...kun?" Rock whispered. "It can't be... I'm dreaming..."     "You _idiot!"_ Netto yelled as he ran closer, holding some kind of strange silver device that looked like some odd scepter, with a round blue gem on the top and tapering to a sharp point at the bottom. "What did you think you were doing?!"     Rock stared. Netto looked the same as always... well, mostly. He seemed pale, washed-out, and his body was formed of suggestions of color and light, all the details of his clothing missing so that he looked like an unfinished, roughly-drawn image. And the things he was saying certainly sounded like him...     But how was he _here?_     "Netto-kun..." he murmured, still disbelieving.     Then he gasped as the screen lit up again, revealing Honemura's angry face.     "How'd you get in here?" Honemura roared.     "Run!" Rockman cried desperately to Netto.     Netto's face hardened into a stubborn expression, and he just kept running forward. Rockman drew breath to plead with Netto to run away, but before he could get the words out, his body froze in place, exactly as he'd been fearing, and then started to pull itself up. Rockman took perverse pleasure in how he staggered as he tried to rise - apparently he'd managed to do enough damage to himself to keep Honemura from being able to use his full fighting potential.     "I don't know how you got in here," Honemura roared, "but you won't be leaving!" He punched buttons on his controller in fury, and Rockman's hand lifted, changing into the shape of a gleaming sword.     Rock struggled more desperately than ever before, his thoughts spiraling into blind panic. _No!_ he screamed. _Netto-kun! Run! Please!_     Netto stopped just out of sword reach. "It's okay," he said, giving a lopsided smile. "I hear you, Rock. Trust me."     Rockman gasped mentally, stunned. Netto could hear him?     As though his moment of surprise released his body, it suddenly lunged forward without his direction, sword raised. Before Rockman could feel more than a flash of panic, Netto was twisting, diving out of the way of the sword slashing down at him as he thrust the scepter up--     --point-first, through Rock's chest.   
  
--To Be Continued-- 


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: All copyrighted characters in Rockman.EXE and its American version, Mega Man Battle Network, are owned by Capcom, the original creators and their distributors. No infringement of any of the rights of the aforementioned creators or distributors is intended. This is a fan-created story for the enjoyment of other fans only, and it may not be distributed for profit in any way. No money is being made by me in any form from this fanfic or any others I have written.   
  
New Author's Notes at the bottom of the file. ^_^   
  
Pushing the Limits   
  
a Rockman.EXE fanfic   
  
by Hoshikage   
  
Chapter 4   
  
    Rockman gave a choking gasp as the point of the scepter pierced through his chest, impaling him on the thin spike of silver metal. The skin around the scepter immediately dissolved into pixels that fluttered briefly around the scepter and then disappeared. His sword arm dropped, his knees buckling as the blade disappeared, reforming into his hand. As he collapsed limply, Netto caught him, sinking down to the floor so he held Rock cradled in his arms.     Rock gasped painfully, looking down at his chest where it was swiftly disintegrating into tiny glittering sparks. He realized belatedly that nothing had prevented the movement, and he looked up at Netto in confusion. "Netto...kun..." he gasped weakly.     Netto just smiled at him, though it looked more than a little strained. "It's gonna be okay, Rock," he whispered. "Trust Papa."     Rock's eyes widened, and as he looked back at the scepter piercing through him, he saw for the first time that as the pixels tore away from his body, they were actually being sucked into the scepter itself instead of fading into nothingness.     "What do you think you're doing?" Honemura's voice yelled in mingled anger and surprise.     Netto looked up at the screen. "Like I'd let you have Rockman!" he yelled. "I'd delete him myself first before I let you use him for one more minute!"     Rock could feel the pulling now, as more and more of him melted away and was sucked up into the scepter. Instinctively he fought it for a moment, trembling on the brink of disappearing completely. "Netto-kun..." he gasped softly. "I... I'm sorry..."     "It's okay," Netto whispered in reassurance, holding him tight.     Rock smiled weakly, and then he relaxed and let himself go, his body disappearing completely as he fell into darkness.   
  
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    Rockman dissolved in Netto's arms, the pixels immediately vanishing into the scepter and leaving Netto clutching only the silver metal. The blue globe on the top of the scepter lit with a faint, pulsing glow. It was barely noticeable, except that Netto had been watching for exactly that.     _I did it!_     "You wretched little brat!" Honemura yelled. "I hope you're ready to share his fate! Boneman, delete him!"     A huge white-armored Navi appeared in front of Netto, raising one huge fist.     "I don't think so," Netto snapped. _"Log-out!"_     And Boneman's fist went right through him as he dissolved into pixels and disappeared.   
  
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    Honemura slammed his hands down on the table, making the keyboard jump and rattle. "Boneman!" he yelled. "You were supposed to delete him! You worthless pile of junk data!"     Boneman looked cowed. "I'm sorry, Master..."     Honemura waved a hand savagely, cutting off the apology. "Damn it!" he snarled, throwing himself back into his chair. "Who _was_ that Navi? And how did he get through the barrier?"     "It's easy if you know how," said a new voice.     Honemura sat up straight as Boneman whirled around. There was a flicker of red light, and Boneman's arm fell off, neatly sheared off at the shoulder, and shattered into pixels. Boneman roared, and then exploded into shining bits as a gleaming red blade materialized where he had just been, attached to the arm of a red-suited Navi with long silver hair.     The Navi smirked at Honemura as he stared at the screen in shock. "Don't mind me," the Navi said. "I'll just let myself out. Oh, and I'll be taking this too," he added, holding up a familiar data cube.     He disappeared as there came a sudden pounding at the door.     "Honemura Saizo!" a voice yelled. "You're under arrest by order of the NetPolice! Open this door!"     Honemura stared at the empty screen.     "I had it..." he said numbly. "I had it all..."   
  
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    "Papa..."     Yuuichirou looked at his screen as Netto appeared, his image confusingly appearing on the screen right next to the chair in which his body lay unconscious. Netto clutched the scepter-shaped data transfer device in his hands, the globe pulsing with faint blue light. "I did it," Netto said, looking tired. He held the device up, and Yuuichirou quickly keyed the command to transfer Rockman's data to a more permanent location, a command he'd already set up in advance knowing he would need it. The scepter rotated in the top corner of the screen, glittering bits of data streaming from the globe into a secured area of the drive.     "Let's get you out of there, Netto," he said.     Netto was giving him an odd look, reaching out to touch the screen. "This is so weird.." he mumbled. "Now I know how Rock feels..."     "I'm not used to seeing you look like you're only ten centimeters tall either," Yuuichirou replied with a smile as he fiddled with the controls.     Netto chuckled a little at that. "Okay," he said. "I'm ready."     His image disappeared from the screen as Yuuichirou initiated the transfer back to his body.     Distracted with that, Yuuichirou didn't notice of another window popping open in the background, this one showing a graph of squares through which a flat line slowly scrolled.   
  
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    Netto opened his eyes, blinking as he tried to get used to his body again. He felt heavy and tired, as though he'd been gone for a long time, even though he hadn't thought it had been that long. "Papa?" he asked, turning his head to see his father sitting at the computer.     His father smiled at him. "Welcome back, sleepyhead," he said. "You dozed off there for about a half hour."     "I fell asleep?" Netto gasped, and pushed himself upright. "Is Rockman okay?"     "Yes, he's all right," Yuuichirou replied with a nod. "Though it looks like parts of his data are damaged, nothing's actually missing... I can reconstruct the damaged portions while I'm undoing all the tampering." He made a face. "Whoever did this knew quite a lot about Navi programming. I'll have to rewrite almost a quarter of the code."     Netto looked at the screen, but all he saw was a window of meaningless, jumbled text and an empty graph, neither of which were things he understood. "Can I talk to him?" he asked. "I can't feel him right now..."     His father shook his head. "He isn't awake right now... and he isn't really a Navi at the moment, just a collection of data, so he doesn't have the same interface with the world that he used to. He won't be able to see or hear us for a while, while I get everything sorted out."     "Oh." Netto sighed. Somehow he'd thought it would be simpler than that... that he could just download Rock back into the PET, and things would go back to normal.     His father patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Netto. I know what I'm doing. Just give me some time to work, and he'll be as good as new."     "You won't change anything, right?" Netto asked in sudden desperation. "You'll leave everything just the way it was?"     Yuuichirou gave him a solemn look, obviously thinking about what that meant. Netto just stared at him. He'd gotten a feeling like his father didn't entirely approve of the link... and if Honemura could partly block it, Netto was sure his father could get rid of it entirely if he wanted to.     But Netto didn't _want_ him to get rid of it.     Then his father smiled slightly. "Of course," he said firmly. "I'll put everything back just the way it was. I'm not the kind of person who'd change his programming without asking, Netto."     Netto didn't back down. "Even if you thought it was for my - our - own good?"     His father reached out and ruffled his hair. "Of course not. I'd try and explain why it would be best, and if that didn't work, I'd get your mother to help argue my case."     Netto smiled a little, reassured. "Thanks, Papa," he said, and hugged his father again.     Yuuichirou chuckled. "You're welcome. Now why don't you go get some rest? I'm sure you could use it, as you've had a very long day."     Netto yawned. He couldn't deny that he was tired. "Why'm I so sleepy, anyway?" he complained, though, as he turned toward the door.     "Well, it _is_ almost 11 P.M.," his father replied wryly. "And you've been running all day, and then going into the Net and back again, which isn't exactly something you're used to."     "Wow," Netto said in surprise as he left the room that his father had taken over for his laboratory. He really hadn't thought it was so late. He must have spent longer in the Net than he'd thought... it was so hard to tell time in there if you didn't have a clock programmed into you.     He moved up the stairs by the dim light coming from the open door to his bedroom, automatically glancing at the empty PET where it sat in its recharging station on his desk. He reached out and pressed the button to shut it down, and then flopped facefirst onto his bed. He was asleep before he could even reach out to turn off the light.   
  
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    _Netto-kun..._     A small spike floated across the graph.     _Netto-kun?_     Another.   
  
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    _Netto-kun!_     "Mmph," Netto mumbled in his sleep. "Five more minutes, Rock..."     _Netto-kun! Where are you? Netto-kun!_     "Hrm? I'm right here..."     _Netto-kun! Where are you? Help me!_     Darkness. Panic.     Netto awoke with a start. "Rock!" he gasped, sitting bolt upright.     _Netto-kun!_ Rockman cried inside his head. _Netto-kun!_     _I'm here!_ Netto sent hastily, hurrying through the door and feeling his way down the darkened stairs.     _Netto-kun!_ Rockman's voice in his head was growing increasingly frantic. _Netto-kun!_     _I'm right here!_ Netto repeated, though he could tell it was useless. _I'm coming!_ He hurried to the door to his father's lab and shoved it open, almost tripping over the computer cords bundled neatly along the floor in his hurry to get inside.     His father looked at him quizzically. "I thought you went to bed."     _Netto-kun!_     Netto blurted out, "I've got to talk to Rock!"     Yuuichirou blinked. "But I'm still coding, I haven't repaired all the damage yet..."     _Netto-kun! Netto-kun! Where are you?_     "Please, Papa!" Netto cried. "Can't you put him back? Or download him into the PET or something? I can hear him--" He broke off, wincing as he felt another flare of panic over the link.     His father glanced at another window, frowning at the erratic spikes fluttering across the graph. "I see," he sighed, and then he got up, disconnecting wires from the chair apparatus and hooking them to a round platform instead. "All right, you would have found out about this sooner or later anyway..."     Netto looked on in confusion as his father returned to the computer. "I'll download Rockman into this device, but he can't stay there for long," he warned. "It's too dangerous until I've repaired the damage."     Netto just nodded, having no real idea what his father was talking about, but willing to agree to anything to reassure Rock. He was too distracted by the sensations over the link to pay much attention to what his father was doing, until he gasped in surprise as pixels fountained into existence on top of the platform, slowly solidifying into Rockman's form.     He lay sprawled limply on the platform, breathing in gasps, pixels still fizzling away from the edges of the cuts and burns he'd sustained. Netto rushed forward without thinking, dropping to his knees beside the platform as he reached out, expecting his hands to be stopped at the edge of the cylinder of soft white light shining from the platform. Instead, his hands and arms went right through, and he stared for a moment before dropping his hand tentatively, curling it around Rock's fingers.     They felt solid, and real.     Rock blinked at him, staring in surprise. "Netto-kun...?" he murmured, then focused on Netto's hand holding his. "It's... not a dream...?"     Netto shook his head mutely, then whispered, "Rock... I'm so glad you're back... I thought I'd lost you..."     Rockman pushed himself up. "Netto-kun... I... I thought I'd lost you, too..."     Netto impulsively lunged forward and hugged his brother. Rock started in surprise, and then he gave a soft, gasping cry and flung his arms around Netto, clinging to him tightly.     _Netto-kun..._     _It's okay... it's over..._   
  
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    Rockman had returned to the computer, and Netto had gone back to bed. Yuuichirou typed in silence for some time, glad that he was in the habit of preserving detailed logs of Rockman's unique program. Without them, he might actually have been hard pressed to remember every detail of the program, and something inside him rebelled at the thought of changing anything about Rockman's personality, even accidentally.     The graph had gone quiet again, only a few small fluctuations going through the smooth line. Rockman was apparently "asleep" again - which was probably the best thing for him right now, anyway. Yuuichirou kept an eye on the graph anyway as he worked, but it remained quiet, and before much longer he found himself yawning. Finished or not, he was going to have to get some sleep.     He considered, then pushed the button to download the data back into the projector, without yet compiling the changes he'd made. He turned to look as Rockman's image flickered back into existence, lying curled on his side with his eyes closed just like a sleeping boy. Rockman shifted, a slight frown crossing his face as though he registered the change, but he didn't wake, just burrowed his face into his arms and sighed in his sleep.     Yuuichirou smiled a bit sadly, looking at the still-visible signs of damage. Then he reached down and shook Rockman's shoulder just as he would have with Netto. "Rockman, can you wake up for a bit?"     "Hmm?" Rockman's eyes fluttered open and he blinked sleepily up at Yuuichirou. "Oh... Doctor Hikari? What is it?"     Yuuichirou smiled at him. "I've repaired some of your code, and I wanted to recompile it before going to bed."     "Okay," Rockman said, rubbing his eyes and yawning as he slowly stood up. He winced and rubbed absently at a burn on his arm as he got back to his feet. "Do I need to do anything?"     "No, I just didn't want to wake you while you were still in data storage," Yuuichirou replied, going back to the keyboard. "You didn't seem to like it last time."     Rockman flushed, looking away. "I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have..."     Yuuichirou turned the chair back to him. "And why not? I don't think I would have liked it either... though of course, I can't say I know firsthand what it's like."     Rockman looked down at the floor. "It's dark," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I can't see or hear anything... I can't even feel my body..." He rubbed at his arm again, unthinkingly, as though reassured by the pain that he still existed.     Yuuichirou sighed as he thought about that. "Well, I'll put a trigger in," he said finally. "That way, if you wake up, you can download yourself out if you like. I can even keep the projector hooked up so you can use it."     Rockman's expression was a strange mixture of relief, gratitude, and embarrassment. "I'm sorry to be such a bother..."     "Nonsense," Yuuichirou responded, turning back to the computer. "It's the least I can do..."     "What do you mean?" Rockman asked.     Yuuichirou paused, looking at the screen and the window of code. Finally he sighed, "None of this would have happened, if it hadn't been for me. In my arrogance, there were so many things I overlooked..."     "But I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," Rockman said softly.     Yuuichirou turned back to him. "Are you really happy, Rock?" he asked, shortening his name to the nickname Netto used for the first time. "A life of fighting battles that might get you destroyed? And now this..." he waved his hand at the window of code. "I'm the one who caused this, even if only indirectly..."     Rockman paused, looking at him seriously. Finally he smiled. "I _am_ happy," he said. "It's what I want. I like being Netto-kun's Navi. Even though..." He hesitated, shuddering a little, then went on with difficulty. "Even though it was... horrible... going through all that... it's not your fault, and you shouldn't blame yourself."     Yuuichirou smiled a little, surprised despite himself by the statement. "You really think so?"     Rockman nodded, smiling. "Yeah. After all, I get to do things no other Navi can, thanks to you. I can touch the people who are close to me now... I can hug Netto-kun, just as if I was still his brother in the real world..."     Rockman trailed off, then held out his arms. Yuuichirou got up and moved past the border of the cylinder of light, and Rockman wrapped his arms around him in a hug without hesitation.     He felt solid and warm, just like a real boy.     "Thank you, Papa," Rockman whispered.     Yuuichirou looked down at him. "Papa?" he asked softly.     Rockman nodded against his chest. "It feels... it feels right this time."     Yuuichirou smiled more broadly than he had in a long time. "Thank _you,_ Rock."     Rockman stayed still a moment longer, apparently treasuring the contact, and then he pulled away, looking a little embarrassed. "I forgot, it's nearly three in the morning, you should sleep..."     "I'll just recompile that code first," Yuuichirou replied with a smile, moving back to the computer. "Just relax, this shouldn't take a minute."     Rockman nodded trustingly and stood still as Yuuichirou pressed the keys. His form split into a snowfall of sparkling pixels, swirling within the cylinder until they reformed into his body again. Rockman lifted his hands, looking at the skin that was no longer marred by pixels bleeding from unhealed wounds.     "Ah, perfect," Yuuichirou said, and then he yawned again.     Rockman smiled at him. "Go to bed, Papa," he chided. "I can wait until morning for the rest."     Yuuichirou smiled and nodded, turning off the lights as Rockman dissolved into pixels again and left the projector, the cylinder of light immediately fading out.     Yuuichirou left the darkened laboratory, closing the door behind him.   
  
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    Rockman woke again to silence and darkness.     Quickly, he downloaded himself out of the data storage area. He knew why he had to stay in there, at least when he was asleep... he knew that Dr. Hikari was just trying to protect him until he could get all the tampering and damage to his program repaired. But he just couldn't stand the feeling of being enclosed in emptiness, unable to move or even feel. It felt too much like what Rock had always imagined deletion to be like... just vanishing, leaving nothing...     He shuddered as he reformed in the computer's public zone, but he tried to cover it as he looked up at the scientist through the screen. "Good morning," he said, though technically it might as well have been called noon. Rockman's internal clock was completely off by now, as he kept waking up at seemingly random intervals. Once he had to go back to school with Netto, he was going to have to do something about that...     Dr. Hikari smiled at him from the other side of the screen. "Hello, Rock. There's someone who's been waiting to see you."     "What? Who?" Rockman asked in surprise. In answer, Yuuichirou tapped a key, and Roll shimmered into existence in the computer next to Rock. The moment she solidified, she threw her arms around him as he gasped "Roll-chan!" in surprise.     "I'm so glad you're all right!" Roll cried. "I was worried..."     Dr. Hikari chuckled. "I'll leave you two alone for a while," he teased, getting up.     Rockman blushed furiously, sputtering an incoherent protest as Roll pulled away, blushing herself. "Sorry," Roll said. "I got carried away."     "It's - it's okay," Rockman stammered, then glanced at the now-empty screen, rubbing his helmet. "He just likes teasing me," he added, rolling his eyes. "I guess that's where Netto-kun gets it from."     Roll giggled, then smiled at him. "You're looking better," she said. "I was worried, after everything..."      Rock dropped his gaze. "Roll, I... I have to apologize, to everyone... especially Yaito-chan..."     Roll shook her head. "No, you don't. It's all right, everyone understands. And besides, Yaito-chan got the data back."     Rockman looked at her in confusion. "She did? You do? How?"     Roll cocked her head. "You didn't know? Honemura was arrested by the NetPolice. It's been all over the news. They said he's been reprogramming Navis and using them to steal data for years, but this time there was enough evidence to arrest him. Enzan was helping them, and he returned the data himself, with Blues..."     Rockman stared at her for a moment. _So that's what Blues was doing there... he was investigating..._     "Rockman?" she asked. "Are you all right?"     "I--" He shook his head. "Sorry, Roll-chan... I just..." He trailed off, unsure how to continue.     Roll smiled at him, a little bit sadly. "It's okay," she said. "I'm just glad you're all right." She squeezed his hand. "I shouldn't stay too long, Meiru-chan will need me..."     Rockman mustered up a genuine smile for her. "Thanks, Roll-chan... for coming to see me."     Roll smiled, and then dissolved into pixels as she logged out.   
  
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    Rockman moved his hand experimentally toward the edge of the cylinder of light formed by the projector, and was unsurprised when he encountered a solid resistance just like a thick wall. Technically speaking, he actually had more room inside the computer or the PET than he did on the projector platform, but it was hard to resist using the machine that let him touch the real world, even in such a limited fashion.     The only light came from the projector, now; Netto had long since gone to bed, and even Dr. Hikari had quit for the night. Rock flexed his fingers and stretched, relieved at feeling... well, normal. The last of the programming changes were gone; he was back to his old self again, as if nothing had ever happened.     Except, of course, for the memory...     Rock sat down on the platform, curling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. Dr. Hikari had finished so late that Rockman hadn't wanted to disturb Netto just to download himself into the PET, so he'd agreed to stay in the lab for one more night. He would be glad to get back to where he belonged, though.     He wasn't used to being so alone, in a room where there was no sound of breathing, only the whirring of computer fans...     He grimaced at himself, faintly disgusted by the silliness of being lonely when his family were all just a room or two away. But to him, it might as well have been a thousand kilometers for all he could get to them, even now that he wasn't forced to stay on the inside of the computer screen. He dropped his chin onto his drawn-up knees with a sigh.     The door opened.     Rockman lifted his head. "Netto-kun?" he gasped in surprise.     Netto grinned at him, hauling in a prodigious pile of pillows, blankets, books, and snacks. "I've been waiting _hours_ for Papa to go to sleep!" he whispered loudly.     "What are you doing?" Rockman asked.     Netto pulled everything over next to the projector. "It's the same thing as when I used to read with you with a flashlight under the covers," he said with a grin. "Here." He pushed a pillow at Rock, who took it with a smile.     "And I was always telling you to go to sleep because you'd be late for school the next day," Rock replied. "Don't you have school tomorrow?"     Netto shook his head. "Mama said I could have tomorrow off too. Besides, I've been sleeping practically all day every day since we got you back! Papa said it's because of going into the Net, he thinks. So I'm awake now."     Rockman gave him a worried look as Netto pulled the blankets apart and pushed one in his direction. "Are you all right?"     "Of course I'm fine, I slept it all off," Netto replied. "Here, this one's new, I've been wanting to show you this!" He flopped into his nest of blankets and pillows and passed a comic book to Rockman. "It's really cool, it's about this guy who's got all these neat powers 'cause his great-grandfather or something was a demon. I bet if he was a Navi we could take him though."     Rock found himself a comfortable position curled up in the blankets as he looked at the book. "Demons don't exist, Netto-kun..."     "I know that! You're always so serious. Sheesh, it's just a story." Netto opened one of the bags of snacks and munched, and Rock threw him a wry look.     "Don't blame me if you have a stomachache in the morning, Netto-kun."     Netto whapped him over the head with his pillow.     "Ack!" Rockman yelped in protest.     "Go on, read it," Netto said, taking back his pillow and scooting a little further onto the platform so they could both read by the light of the cylinder. "It's cool. I bet they're gonna make it into a TV anime."     Rock put the book where they could both read it, holding down one side while Netto took the other. There was silence for a few minutes, and Rock relaxed, feeling Netto's familiar presence across the link as well as hearing his breathing next to him, knowing without words that his feeling of loneliness had been answered without his having to ask.     He turned his head to smile at his brother. "Thanks, Netto-kun."     Netto smiled back. "You're welcome."   
  
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    When Hikari Yuuichirou opened the door into the lab the next morning, he found Netto curled up in a nest of blankets next to the projector. Rockman was similarly inside it, snuggled into a pillow, his outstretched hand touching Netto's where both hands rested on top of an open comic book.     Yuuichirou smiled and shut the door again, moving back toward the kitchen.     "So, how are the boys doing?" Haruka asked as she started the rice cooker.     Yuuichirou chuckled. "Sleeping like logs. It looks like they were having a slumber party." He raised an eyebrow. "You knew Netto was in there?"     "I heard him last night," Haruka said with a smile. "You know, we should probably rearrange things a little... give Netto the bigger room you're using for the computers. Especially if he's going to be sharing it with that projector machine!" she added with a giggle. "I'd say we should give Rock his own room, but he probably wouldn't want it..."     Yuuichirou gave her a curious look. "His own room?"     She gave him a mysterious smile. "Well, it's not fair to make siblings share the same room forever, now is it?"     Yuuichirou blinked. "You... you knew?" he said finally. He wasn't entirely sure why he was so surprised, but he'd never actually mentioned it, for fear of upsetting her...     She smiled again. "I always knew," she replied.     "And... you don't mind?"     "Not at all," Haruka said with a smile. Sitting down at the table, she added wistfully, "Though if he'll call you Papa, it would be nice if he'd call me Mama, too..."     Yuuichirou smiled. "I'm sure he will," he said, taking her hand in his.   
  
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    "Aaaaagh! I'm late!" Netto cried as he raced for the school.     "Your first day back and you're late again!" Rockman chided from the PET. "Mama and I both tried three times to wake you up!"     Enzan watched from the next block down. "Looks like things are back to normal," he said with a snort of amusement.     "Indeed," Blues said. "By the way, you have a mail. Or rather, we both do."     "Really? Who's it from?"     "Rockman. It just says, 'Thank you.'"     Enzan smiled. "Well, at least one of them has some manners," he said, and turned and walked away.     "Shall I reply?" Blues asked.     "No..." Enzan replied with a smile. "I think we should just leave it at that."   
  
--THE END--   
  
Author's Notes: Well, yes, this is in fact the end. I wrote this story unusually fast, in a massive burst of inspiration. I am glad the results were pleasing to others as well as myself. ^_^ Someday, if the Muse is willing, perhaps there may be a sequel, but at the moment, I have no plans for one. And now, on to a couple more specific responses to reviewers...   
  
Moonymonster: Yes. I am evil. Sorry, I feel no remorse for the cliffhangers. I like writing them too much. ;)   
  
Marisa: 1) As far as Netto going into the Net (I'm assuming that was what you were referring to, that he did in a fanfic?), I actually got that from the manga. ^^;; 2) I guess I can't fool you now... and yes, I am working on the story which you mentioned. It will be finished. Someday. Honest. ^^;;   
  
Thanks for reading, everyone. Until next time... 


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